Vol. IV. No. 77. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



93 



TRADE IN ORANGE AND CITRON PEELS. 



At the request of the Imperial Coniniissioner of 

 Agriculture Mr. J. R. Jackson, A.L.S., has made 

 inquiries into the matter of the trade in England in 

 orange and citron peels. The following is his report : — 



The Englisli trade in orange and citron peels is one of 

 a varied character. In the first place, there are the fresh 

 psels that are so largely used for culinary purposes under the 

 name of candied peels in which the fresh rind is first placed 

 in brine to soak and then treated with sugar or syrup ; but 

 orange peel, Iwtli in the fresh and dried states, is used in 

 medicinal preparations and in the last-named condition 

 appears regularly at the Lo-idon drut; sales. It is from the 

 Seville orange that this rind is obtained, and Malta supplies 

 a considerable portion. Tincture of orange is made by 

 macerating the fresh ]ieel in alcohol, while infusion of orange 

 is prepared from the dry peel ; both of these are important 

 ingredients in the composition of many well-known medicines, 

 though a|)art from the bitter [)ro[ierty of orange peel its use 

 may be said to be that of a flavouring agent rather than as 

 a medicine. In the course of inquiries as to the ])ossible 

 future of any of the West India Islands supplying the London 

 market with orange or citron peel, the foilnwing replies 

 have been received : — 



Messrs. Jenkin & Phillips, the well-known produce 

 brokers of 14, Mincing Lane, write: 'As far as we can 

 find out no orange or citron peel conies to London from 

 the West Indies, as it would not be able to compete 

 with the prices obtained for goods from Messina 

 which are : oranges, 29s. per pipe of 7 cwt ; and citrons, 

 25«. per pipe of 7 cwt. The competition in these articles 

 is very keen indeed, which accounts for the very low prices. 

 It is not possible for us to say if the quality would be 

 different in any way, but if we have samples we could then 

 give full details." 



Messrs. Sparks, White A Co., of G2, St. .lohn 

 Street, E.C., say : ' The country supplying Great Britain 

 with brined orange and lemon peels is Sicily (as well 

 as Italy), but the majority of the citron peel is .shiiii)ed from 

 the Adriatic. The demand for candied peels is a decreasing 

 one, and whereas a few years ago the majority of the. candied 

 peels produced in England, with the exception of citron, were 

 all prepared in England from the fresh fruit, it has since 

 been found that an equally good article — and by some 

 considered better — is produced from the peels brined where 

 they are grown. As to the West Indies supplying the 

 brined orange and lemon peels, it is no doubt simply 

 a matter of price. The freightage from the Mediterranean is 

 exceedingly cheap and there are boats to all points in England 

 practically every week.' 



The small quantities of dried orange peels which have 

 been sent to the United Kingdom from the West Indies do 

 not show the quality of the peels (from the bitter fruit) to be 

 equal to that produced in the South of Europe and North 

 Africa ; furthermore the prices of them are higher, and as 

 a result there is now practically no dried orange peel reaching 

 England from the West Indies. There is only one exception, 

 and that is a hybrid peel produced at St. Kitt's, which is 

 known in the trade as ' Curacoa.' Messrs. Sparks, White 

 & Co. express their willingness to supply any further 

 information that may be required by the Imperial 

 Deiiartment of Agriculture, if direct communication is made 

 to them on the subject. It may perhaps be of some further 

 interest to say that, while writing thus early in February, 

 tincture of orange peel and the peel itself from Seville 

 oranges are being advertised by a well-known wholesale 



druggist in one of the trade journals with the following 

 note on the sea,son 190.^ : 'Seville oranges are coming over 

 in good quantit)- and in excellent condition. We can now 

 offer the fresh-cut i)eel and we shall have the new dried peel 

 and the new tincture towards the end of the month.' The 

 flesh peel is described as being in spirals, wrapped in 

 parchment in quantities of 5 lb., 10 lb., and .50 lb., at the 

 rate of 9^^/. per lb. for the smaller quantity, 8d. per lb. for the 

 next, and 7(f. per ft. for the largest. The following are the 

 Mincing Lane quotations for orange [leel for the month of 

 .lanuary : New Crop ^Maltese, darkish, \0d. per tt)., and for 

 fine bright Is. 3d. is asked. On the 19th. orange peel was in 

 [ilentiful supply ; for several cases of fair bright thin machine- 

 cut TriiKili strij) lOrf. per lb. was jiaid. 



BEE KEEPING. 



The Adulteration of Honey. 



Reporting on the work of the Chemical Branch of 

 the Department of Agriculture, Victoria, for 1903-4, 

 Dr. F. J. Howell makes the following remarks on the 

 adulteration of honey: — 



The most common adulterants of honey are glucose, cane 

 sugar syrup, and the inverted cane sugar. The presence of 

 glucose is a matter of easy detection. The detection of cane 

 sugar presents also very little difficulty ; but the question of 

 an intentional addition as an adulteration is complicated by 

 the absence of definite knowledge as to how much a genuine 

 article should contain. The particular ftora, and the artificial 

 feeding of the bee are res[ionsible for large variations in this 

 direction, as is evident in the coiniiosition of some of the 

 Californian honeys. As invert sugar enters largely into the 

 composition of a pure honey, the known limits of the 

 quantities, naturally present in unadulterated samples, are 

 the only sure guide to the expressions of opinions as to the 

 genuineness or otherwise of a sauqilo in this direction. With 

 respect to cane sugar, according to Wiley, it is a rare thing 

 to find a genuine honey containing more than 4 per cent, of 

 sucrose, but there are undoubted instances of pure honeys 

 very considerably exceeding these figures. 



It is a usual practice, 1 believe, to feed bees at a certain 

 time of the year with a jiartly inverted sugar syrup ; although, 

 it is stated not for sale purposes. The production of the bee 

 from such a food cannot be regarded as a pure honey. This 

 practice and certain uniipie conditions of flora and climate 

 may explain, to a degree, certain characteristics of some of 

 the samples sent in as pure. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imjierial Commissioner of Agriculture left 

 Barbados in the R.]\[.S. ' Esk' on March 18 for Grenada 

 for the purpose of attending the Agricultural Show 

 held in that island on March 16 and 17. Sir Daniel 

 Morris, after spending a day en route at St. Vincent in 

 inspecting the Central Cotton Factory in that island, 

 returned to Barbados on March 19 by S.S. 'Orinoco.' 



Mr. Bertram Mason, who has held the jjost of 

 Junior Clerk at the Head Office of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture for the past sixjears, leaves 

 Barbados to-day in R.M.S. 'Trent' for England, having 

 been offered the post of Treasury Clerk in the British 

 Central African Protectorate. 



